Sustainable Biorefinery and Production of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

Abstract

Egyptian Journal of Botany http://ejbo.journals.ekb.eg/ Review 45 A LFALFA is considered as "the Queen of the Forages" due to its high protein content and nutritional value. The production of alfalfa under different stressful environments is a great challenge, representing a serious threat to global food security. To improve the production of alfalfa under stressful conditions, there is a crucial need to understand the response of alfalfa plants to stresses, the mechanisms of tolerance and the management options. Alfalfa is a promising biorefinery crop from which leaf protein concentrates as well as bio-organic fertilizers can be produced. The potential of leaf-derived protein concentrate for human and animal nutrition is huge, yet unexploited. The bio-organic fertilizers derived from alfalfa plants represent a sustainable way to supply the plant with some nutrients. This review article highlights the sustainable use of alfalfa in biorefinery and bio-organic fertilizer production. Moreover, scattered knowledge about its use for production is collected supporting its suitability for improving soil fertility. Last, we discuss the suitability of alfalfa to produce stable yields in the light of changing climate and stressful conditions like salinity.

In vitro and in vivo anthelmintic efficacy of condensed tannins extracted from the seeds of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) against Haemonchus contortus infection

“…Efficient anthelmintic properties of various herbal bio-products against different helminths have been reported worldwide (8)(9)(10). Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is one such significant and widespread legume crop (11) that has been investigated to have potent bioactive components such as tannins, pectin substances, saponins, and flavones and phenolics (12). Tannins are considered a significant category of polyphenols that are widely spread in the bark of trees, leaves, stems, fruits, and seeds.…”

Nutrichemical alterations in different fractions of multiple-harvest alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) green biomass fortified with various selenium forms

“…Hence, the concept of "Green Biorefinery" encompasses this ambition, as it aims to produce food, feed and industrially valuable products from green biomass using novel biotechnological and chemical methods, maximizing the energy efficiency and minimizing the greenhouse gases emissions (Kamm et al 2016;Asgharipour et al 2016). Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most common raw material for green biorefineries (El-Ramady et al 2020). It provides 3-10 times higher yield than seed based protein plants (oilseeds, grain, legumes) (Popp et al 2016).…”

Silicon- and Phosphate-Solubilizing Pseudomonas alkylphenolica PF9 Alleviate Low Phosphorus Availability Stress in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)

“…It has a great importance for agronomy because of its impressive nutritional value, biomass production, and atmospheric nitrogen (N 2 ) fixation (Carlsson and Huss-Danell, 2003;Radovic et al, 2009). Furthermore, alfalfa's pivoting root system gives it the ability to absorb water by up to 3 m in depth (El-Ramady et al, 2020), as a result of adaptation to some extreme abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity. However, its growth is highly susceptible to soil nutrient deficiency and, especially, phosphorus (P) deficiency (Farssi et al, 2021).…”